Somei Yoshino #01

This picture is inspired by sakura trees which can represent birth and death. Yasukuni shrine also inspired the aspect of death in this painting as many war dead are buried there. When considering life in this painting the unborn child comes to mind. So in this world the sadness of death and the happiness of birth are contradictions that exist together. And the sakura tree with it's short lived sakura petals symbolise all of this.

Of course the Sakura tree is very symbolic of Japan. One of the most common types of sakura tree in Japan is the "Somei yoshino" thanks to human cultivation. However these trees aren't so common the in the wild. You can usually see these trees bloom around the Tokyo plain from the end of March to the beginning of April.